Ephesians 4:11 tells us that the ascended Head has given gifts to the church. He has given some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers. The reason He gave these gifts is not for the work of preaching the gospel or other matters, but for the perfecting of the saints.
We have also seen from the New Testament the gathering that is for the perfecting of the saints. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another for inciting to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together... but exhorting one another.” From the context of the passage, the above verses should not be referring to the big meetings, but to the small meetings, such as the small group meetings. In this kind of meeting, everyone can speak to one another and exhort one another. Gradually there will be the perfecting. Paul also said in Acts 20:20 that he “did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and to teach you publicly and from house to house.” On the one hand, there are the public meetings. On the other hand, there are the house-to-house teachings. Paul did this “for three years, night and day...admonishing each one with tears” (v. 31).
Paul admonished the brothers and sisters night and day in their homes. It may have been in the home meetings, with the nourishing and the supplying. It may have been in the small group meetings, with the care and the teaching. Nothing concerning God’s plan, His economy, and His eternal purpose was held back from the saints, for the perfecting of the saints.
Hence, we have to see that in order to perfect some to become the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and the teachers, everything depends on the small group meetings. For example, we may have fifteen brothers and sisters meeting here in a small group meeting. Among them there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. Nobody is waiting for any one person to speak. Instead, everyone is speaking, and everyone is listening. Some may ask, “What is it to prophesy?” Perhaps a brother may answer, “According to my knowledge, to prophesy is to speak for God, to speak forth God, and to speak God into others.” Another may say, “To speak God into others is to dispense Christ.” In this way, everyone can go on to discuss the matter of prophesying. In the end, one brother who is more experienced in the matter of prophesying may say, “In order to prophesy, we must push the word of God out from our spirit. There should also be much light, revelation, and content, which are the riches of Christ, the eternal life of Christ.” Here we see the saints perfecting the saints, and also the apostles perfecting the saints. In the end, everyone is perfected to prophesy.
Perhaps at this juncture a sister would ask a question about the preaching of the gospel. An evangelist may happen to be there. He should not be there preaching the gospel. He should be there perfecting everyone to preach the gospel. He should speak clearly concerning the matter of preaching the gospel. All the listeners will be perfected, and they will become evangelists also.
If we have this kind of small group meetings for fifty-two weeks of the year, after a newly saved one has attended such meetings for thirty times, he will more or less be perfected, and he will begin to do the work of the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers.
In addition, we have to take note that though the more gifted brothers and sisters should function more, their functioning should not replace that of the other brothers and sisters. If there is replacement, the clergy-laity system will come in, and it will produce a religious system, killing the spiritual organic function of the believers. We have to learn to perfect the brothers and sisters. First give them the chance to speak. Ask the newly saved ones to ask questions, with others answering. We will speak last. In this way, not only are the newly saved ones perfected, but the ones who answer will also be perfected. By this, everyone will be perfected in the small group meeting.
Today, we have to take the new way, and to change the old methods to the new methods. But we must remember that we should not change too fast. If we do it too fast, people will be left behind and will not be able to catch up. In the Old Testament, it is recorded that when Jacob led his wives and children and the livestock to meet his brother, he knew that he could not journey too fast. He said to his brother, “Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant; and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure” (Gen. 33:14). Jacob knew their endurance, and he said that they would journey on softly.
Today, the church in Taichung is a big church. There are a few hundred people. If we go too fast, the older ones and the younger ones may not be able to catch up. Hence, we have to go on slowly and to make changes step by step. As an illustration, the church in Taipei has nearly five thousand people. We have spent almost four years to turn around this carriage carrying five thousand people. In the new way, on the one hand, we have to be positive. But on the other hand, we cannot go too fast. Rather we should take the normal speed according to the condition of the brothers and sisters. I believe that the Lord will bless us.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taichung on March 30, 1989)